Spartanburg woman accused of leaving young children unattended, again

Published: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 11:44 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 11:44 a.m.

A Spartanburg woman is accused of leaving three young children unattended less than six months after she was accused of leaving four children alone in a hotel room.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office charged Antraketa Shanette Greene, 31, of 106 Kensington Drive, with three counts of child neglect.

On Friday, a deputy responded to a report of unattended children at the Walgreens at 2410 Reidville Road.

A female witness told the deputy she stopped at the store to get a movie and noticed three children inside a vehicle. The witness said the children were in the front seat. All the windows in the vehicle were down, and the windshield wipers were on, according to an incident report.

The witness watched the unattended children for about 15 to 20 minutes before asking where their mother was, the report states. One child kept repeating “inside,” the report states.

The witness took the children inside the store, approached a manager and saw the mother, later identified as Greene, the report states.

Greene told a deputy she was printing pictures for birthday invitations and had not been inside the store long.

After reviewing witness statements and reviewing security footage, sheriff's deputies say Greene left the children, ages 1 through 3, in the running vehicle 21 minutes. The children were in the store nine minutes before Greene realized they were inside the store, a report states.

Greene was released Wednesday from the Spartanburg County jail on a $7,500 bond. She was arrested this past November after deputies responded to the Quality Inn on Simuel Drive and found four children alone in a room.

Greene, who then lived at 350 Norris St., Apt. 216-B, was charged with four counts of child neglect. An incident report states that deputies responded after receiving a call from the hotel about children crying inside a room.

An employee assisted deputies by unlocking the door. The deputies found four children, ages 1 to 6, asleep on the bed, according to the report.

Greene later arrived and said she got a flat tire on the way to Walmart to buy the children a cup, the report states.

After that arrest, the children were placed in the care of their maternal grandmother, Lt. Tony Ivey with the sheriff's office wrote in an e-mail. Greene was released from jail Nov. 8 on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.

Ivey said the investigator in charge of the case told him Greene had custody of the children during the more recent incident. She was given custody of the children by the Department of Social Services after the agency completed its investigation of the November 2012 incident, Ivey said.

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